EPL, England, Europe, Features, Ian John, Leagues, Regions, Serie A POSTS

What is Roberto Mancini doing?

Published by Ian John on January 11, 2010

I mean this in all honesty. Now be completely truthful with me; Can you fathom out what he is doing?

For all the faults levelled at Mark Hughes, ambition wasn’t one of them. He wanted to sign Kaka and would have paid the requisite money to do so. He wanted the best for City. Admittedly some of his signings on the defensive side of things in particular, haven’t worked out as well as hoped but he went for players that you could understand he would want to take Manchester City onto a new level.

Can you honestly say Mancini signing Patrick Vieira and going for Juan Sebastian Veron made any sense? A few weeks ago, Mark Hughes was singing the praises of Nigel De Jong, a midfielder who plays in the same position as Vieira, is much younger, stronger, quicker and, in my humble opinion, a far better player currently. Veron? A brilliant player, but one who is suited, it seems, to only playing in Italian or Argentinean soccer. His time in England was an utter flop for both Chelsea and Manchester United. Who would you take out of the current City side to play Vieira and Veron? I can’t even begin to understand what the Italian was thinking of to be honest.

Vieira, since he left Arsenal, has struggled in Italy. He never performed to his best for Juventus, was shipped out to Inter and the times I’ve seen him for Inter, or heard about his performances, it has been uniformly a critical assessment. He was monstrously outclassed when facing English sides in the Champions League and his Serie A form has been awful at times. Inter informed the player they would not be renewing his contract come July this year and Manchester City feel he is worth £150,000 a week? It is an absolute joke.

Ten years ago, he’d have been worth every penny, but at the moment Vieira is nowhere near the player he was. Mancini must think he can recapture that form however he has shown nothing in the years since he left Arsenal to suggest that this is the case. Veron on the other hand has been playing well for Estudiantes, but lets face it £7m for a player who is well past 30 and who in his time at the two best clubs in England, was an absolute flop, is a joke. Especially when you consider the wages would have been similar to Vieira’s £150,000 a week pay packet.

Fortunately for Mancini, results on the field have been strong. However his performance off it in the transfer market thus far, has been little short of uninspiring. For me signing Vieira is a step backwards for city. He will offer them little else other than the fact he was once a big name in World Soccer. Then again, so was Diego Maradona, Pele and Alfredo Di Stefano, can we expect bids for them too?

Ansaldi could be a good buy and the news the club has been linked with Victor Moses should give City fans further hope that Mancini has his eye on the long term future, but the signing of Patrick Vieira is for me, a panic buy of epic proportions. I only hope Mancini has the same idea I have had for many years now, which is I believe Vieira is only able to play at the highest levels, as a centre half, not as a midfielder. If that is the case, I’ll be the first to put my hands up. However if he has signed him to be the dynamic leader of the Man City team from central midfield, he is going to be sorely disappointed.

Image Courtesy of ***fabricadezvoruni*** at Flickr.com

Readers Rating: